


and i know, i'm not alone, you'll be watching over us (until you're gone)

by EffieTrinket1619



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: BAMF Rosa Diaz, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt Jake Peralta, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Major Character Injury, Past Abuse, Protective Ray, Roger Peralta Bashing, So Does Everyone, in which rosa wants to kill a bitch, lets just say he wasn't just absent, roger peralta is a piece of shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2019-10-20
Packaged: 2020-12-24 17:19:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21103130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EffieTrinket1619/pseuds/EffieTrinket1619
Summary: Rosa never liked Roger Peralta. And now she just had more reasons to hate him.





	and i know, i'm not alone, you'll be watching over us (until you're gone)

**Author's Note:**

> I finished Brooklyn Nine Nine recently and I absolutely loved it. So here's my first contribution to the fandom.   
Tw:  
Swearing  
Referenced abuse  
Someone gets the shit beaten out of them but it's not really described  
Hospital  
Mentions of death and many death threats
> 
> Title is from 'Shelter' by Porter Robinson and Madeon

When Roger Peralta walked in on that first day, Rosa almost didn’t notice.

_Almost, _because Rosa nearly knew as much as Gina, though no one would suspect her, except maybe Jake. But he was a clueless moron, so she didn’t count on it.

The only reason she noticed Roger come in was because the steady stream of stupid chatter coming from Jake just stopped suddenly. And there wasn’t much that could get Jake to shut up, so whatever it was must’ve been serious. Which was why Rosa looked up in time to watch Jake’s father walk out of the elevator and stride jovially over to his son’s desk.

Rosa subconsciously clenched her teeth, and saw that Gina had a similar reaction, freezing up completely.

Rosa didn’t know the man well enough to build up a proper opinion, but she knew enough to know not to trust him. Memories of comforting a depressed Jake at their graduation at the Academy because his own damn father hadn’t bothered to show his stupid face flashed before Rosa’s eyes. She wouldn’t let Roger Peralta hurt Jake again, that much was certain. Even if it meant getting her hands dirty.

Turning her eyes back to her paperwork, she tuned out everything else to focus on Jake and Roger. Their conversation wasn’t all that hard to eavesdrop on.

“What’re you doing here, dad?” If Rosa hadn’t known Jake for years, she wouldn’t’ve noticed the slight tremor in his voice.

Roger waved a hand good-naturedly. “I’ve got a detective working a case for me downstairs. Thought I’d come to visit my one and only son!” he said with a chuckle.

Rosa’s hands clenched her pen so tightly that if it weren’t made of metal, it would’ve broken. She could see, from out the corner of her eye, how Jake was cringing away from Roger.

“Oh. Cool. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. Noice.” Jake fidgeted anxiously. “Uh, do you wanna go outside to talk? I’ll come out in a minute.”

Roger frowned, causing Jake to shrink in on himself. “What’s wrong with talking in here?” His expression hardened. “Am I not welcome here, Jacob?”

Jake _flinched away. _Rosa and Gina locked eyes as Jake uttered out a small “no”. They waited until Roger left, turning on his heel with a huff, before rounding on Jake.

“Jake, what the fuck was that?”

“He’s screwing up my aura. Get rid of him.”

Jake frowned at the two of them. “Hey. Don’t be rude, that’s my dad!” Rosa glared even harder at him as Gina snorted.

“That lumpy, white potato? Honey, no.”

Rosa stared Jake down. “Why did you flinch?”

Jake’s eyes widened imperceptibly. “He scared me.” The flimsiest excuse he could’ve given her.

Rosa shook her head in disbelief and glanced at Gina. An unspoken agreement passed between them. _Don’t let the bastard hurt Jake._

Roger came back the next day.

This time he went around, talking to everyone at their desks about Jake. Rosa narrowed her eyes as she tried to listen in to what he was saying. Mostly trying and failing to talk shit about Jake. Mostly because all of the members of the Nine-Nine were casually (in Terry’s case) or vehemently (in Boyle’s case) denying all of the claims Roger made about his son.

“Jake’s one of our best detectives, Mr Peralta.” A big smile in the direction of the subject at hand. “The precinct wouldn’t be the same without him.”

Jake returned the smile, wobbly and unsure of himself. Roger only looked scornfully at his son.

He rounded on Rosa after, who barely looked up from her work. “How about you? Has Jake been bothering you--“

“Leave before I rip out your spleen and force-feed it to you,” she snarled. Roger got the message and left her alone.

Jake watched her reproachfully. “Damn it, Rosa. You could be slightly nicer to him,” he muttered.

Rosa rolled her eyes but said nothing, continuing with her work. Thankfully, he decided to leave soon afterward, the tension in the air leaching out of the room as the elevator doors shut. Maybe she was imagining Jake little sigh of relief.

The minutes scraped along, and Rosa realised with annoyance that she wouldn’t be able to work without addressing the elephant in the room. She was getting too soft.

Groaning as she got up, extending her arms in a stretch, she yawned and strode over to Terry’s desk. He looked up at her apprehensively. “What is it Detective Diaz?” He sounded tired.

Rosa pursed her lips. “Evidence room. There’s something I wanna show you.”

Terry looked doubtful. “But haven’t you finished your case--“

“Shut up and follow me,” she growled.

She turned on her heel and walked straight out of the room, Terry close behind her. Checking that the evidence room was clear, she dragged him over to the corner.

“I’m worried about Jake,” she stated, not bothering to wince words. Something that seemed mildly sad passed over Terry’s face. “Haven’t you seen the way he’s been acting with his dad around? I don’t like it.”

Terry placed a hand on Rosa’s shoulder. “I know what you mean,” he murmured. “But we can’t intervene without solid evidence of something funky going down.” He stared Rosa down. “I’m sorry Rosa, but you’re gonna have to leave it.”

She watched as he left the evidence room, his words still ringing through her head. Fine. She would leave it. But the moment anything weird happened, she would pummel the offender into the ground while mouthing ‘I told you so’ at Terry.

Rage and spite fuelled her every step, to the point where she decided to blow off steam by going on a ride in the freezing December weather. Damn it all to hell.

“Rosa, if you’re going out could you get me a vanilla frap? Thank you!” Rosa grunted affirmative at Gina’s request/order, walking out and not looking back. Maybe she was overreacting, but goddamn it, she was _tired. _

The third day was when Rosa was beginning to want to legitimately _kill _Roger Peralta. Gina had confided in her the day before as Rosa delivered her coffee. She told Rosa of angry words and bruises and tears running down hollow cheeks. Gina wanted Roger out and away from Jake as quickly as she possibly could, but she didn’t want Jake to catch on her plan. Jake would only get angry if they tried to kick his father out. And if Roger caught on, well, Gina’s grim expression was all the answer Rosa needed.

They needed to act fast, but Jake wouldn’t listen to them.

“He’d listen to Amy,” Rosa offered. Gina nodded, deep in thought.

“We could try it. Dibs not it!” Rosa rolled her eyes at Gina’s childishness.

“Fine. I’ll ask her. If this doesn’t work though, I dunno what will.”

Rosa braced herself before walking up to the sergeant. “Sup Amy.”

Amy beamed at her. “Hi Rosa. What’s up?”

“You busy?”

She laughed. “Nope. I’m two weeks ahead of paperwork.”

Rosa nodded awkwardly. “Hey, I need to talk with you about something--“

“It’s Jake’s dad, isn’t it?” Amy’s smile was soft and sad. “Don’t worry, I’ve talked to him to get rid of the guy. It’s a work in progress.” Her voice was slightly breathy, her hands fidgeting with her shirt. “We’ll get him out eventually--"

“Did he tell you how much of a son of a bitch Roger Peralta is?” Rosa growled. Amy stopped short and shook her head. And so, Rosa told Amy what Gina told her. And Rosa had never seen Amy so incensed.

“What the fuck?” she whispered.

Rosa sighed. “Gina and I don’t want Jake to get into trouble with him. Keep him safe at all costs.” It felt like a mission briefing of all things. With an objective and a sort-of plan. It was good enough for the time being but if things escalated, then she would need to step on a bastard.

Rosa said a rushed farewell to Amy as one of her cops came up to her for something or another concerning a case about something or another. She couldn’t care less. Rosa headed to the elevator and waited for the doors to shut.

“Wait! Hold the doors!” Someone came running in and slid into the elevator. Roger Peralta himself looked up at Rosa and smiled, somewhat nervously, she realised with warm pride. “You’re one of Jake’s friends, aren’t you? The one from the Academy, yeah?”

“Yes,” she grunted. Her arms were crossed and her back straight, staring right ahead at the seam between the doors. Why was the ride taking so damn long?

Roger hummed, before piping up again, and Rosa once again suppressed the urge to slam his stupid head into a pile of thumbtacks. “You know, you could’ve been a little nicer yesterday. I’m legally allowed to file a complaint, aren’t I?”

Rosa gritted her teeth. First, this bitch comes waltzing into their precinct, making Jake uncomfortable, then he threatens to lodge a complaint against her?

“I don’t do nice. I’m efficient, not empathetic.” Rosa was running out of patience. “If you want nice, go to Sarge. Or Santiago.”

Roger looked almost hurt at that statement. Taking deep breaths in and out, she reminded herself that if she killed him, she would lose her job and go back to jail. The last thing she wanted was to go back to that hellhole.

“How on earth did you make friends in the first place?”

She chose to ignore that question, which wasn’t hard as the doors finally opened. As Rosa stepped out into sweet freedom, she vowed to herself to never let herself get stuck in the elevator with anyone who wasn’t from the squad ever again.

Rosa sat down at her desk, keeping an eye on the two Peraltas conversing. Roger’s position, standing over Jake, felt incredibly off, the latter seeming to cower into his hoodie.

Jake Peralta has been held at gunpoint more times than Rosa could count, yet in those situations he remained calm and collected.

Roger Peralta must be Satan himself to scare Jake into submission.

On the fourth day, Rosa was being driven insane.

Roger came in early and stayed for _hours. _With only desk work to do, and her motorcycle at the mechanics, (she’d gotten a ride from Gina), Rosa was sure she was slowly being driven crazy.

_This has to be a torture method, _she thought, attempting to tune out the droning white noise of Roger talking about piloting. Something that she would’ve found interesting had been ruined forever. That wasn’t the least of her troubles though.

Gina was being downright hostile towards Peralta Snr, to the point where Holt moved her to his office for the time being, so the only person fit to watch over Jake was herself. Thankfully, writing up case files, while dull, weren’t difficult work.

Jake seemed to be doing a little better than yesterday, seeming confident enough to crack jokes with his dad around. So it seemed that all was well for the time being. Rosa still couldn’t let her guard down. She didn’t know how long Jake’s dad would stay, hell, she didn’t even know what he was accused of, so she stayed on her toes.

Rosa thought that the beginning of the end began when Holt came into the bullpen to stretch his legs and grab a mug of coffee.

As he passed Jake’s desk, he paused. “Oh, great work on the drug bust last week Detective Peralta. I was told you had gotten yourself into another hostage situation and you managed to negotiate with no casualties.” Holt gave him an almost-smile. “I’m proud of you, Jake.”

Jake grinned, his whole face lighting up at once. “Thanks dad.”

It was a slip up, one of many. Everyone had gotten used to them by now, and they dismissed them as something slightly awkward but sweet. Everyone knew about them.

Everyone, except Roger Peralta.

One look at his biological father and Jake’s face crumbled. Rosa saw something primal and wild in his eyes before he turned away and walked out of the precinct, his dad trailing behind him.

_Alright, that’s it._

Rosa waited until Holt strode back into his office before storming in and slamming the door behind her.

“What is the meaning of this Detective Diaz?” Holt asked. His face showed no expression at all, except for the storm brewing in his eyes.

“Jake’s dad. I want him out.”

“Finally!” Gina exclaimed. “Someone he’ll listen to!” Rosa didn’t spare a glance at her, choosing to lock eyes with Holt and not back down. She would win this war.

“You know I cannot do that Diaz--”

“Don’t care. Get him out.”

Holt’s brow wrinkled. “Why? Do you have some ulterior motive for wanting him to leave, or do you just not like him?”

Rosa bit her lip, weighing her options. Tell Holt and maybe get his sympathy (she’d rather die), or not tell Holt and continue like this.

“Fine. He’s screwing up my work ethic with his stupid questions and his stupid lectures about his stupid job as a stupid pilot. He’s also distracting Jake. He’s not getting anything done either,” Rosa admitted. She still did not take her eyes off Holt’s face.

“I see. So you are worried for Peralta?”

Rosa only hesitated for a second. “Yes. Now _please_ get him out.” Rosa sighed, frustrated. “We don’t even know _why_ he’s here.”

“He was accused of smuggling drugs into Canada.” Holt and Rosa paused their staring contest for a second to look at Gina, who had taken her nail polish out. “What? I have my sources.”

“Surprised he didn’t try to dump the case on Jake.”

Holt didn’t answer. He was mulling something over in his head. “Now that I think about it, Jacob has been acting strange as of late.”

Rosa snorted a laugh. “Yeah, like he did not even ten minutes ago. Come on Captain, just tell him to leave. This precinct is yours. Shouldn’t be that hard.”

Holt sighed defeatedly. “You are correct. I will ask him tomorrow if he comes back.”

Rosa perked up. “Wait, why not now?”

“Because he just left,” Holt answered, nodding at the window. Sure enough, Jake walked in alone and sat down heavily in his seat. He looked dejected and something tugged in Rosa’s chest for him.

“Tomorrow then.”

On the fifth day, Rosa finally got to punch Roger.

It began when she walked in, earlier than everyone else. She had been asked by Amy to resume looking into a case that she’d been working on for a week straight. Rosa had insisted that she go to bed before she collapsed, so Rosa was left in charge until Amy could continue.

Rosa went off for her coffee, reading through the case files while she drank in. Already, she could feel her veins buzzing with energy.

Rosa began walking over to her desk, but stopped short as she heard a strange sound coming from the interrogation room. She crept closer, listening intently. From what she could hear, there was a _thump, _with a whimper following it. Eyes widening, Rosa realised that someone was being punched in there. As much as she hated people, she kept punching perps to when they were outside the precinct.

She stalked into the viewing room and promptly dropped her mug. It shattered, white ceramic skittering across the floor in a way that would’ve been nice to the eye, except Rosa wasn’t focusing on that. For one second, the muscles in her body locked up and she couldn’t move. The second passed and she was running, running out of the door and into the interrogation room.

She ran over to Roger, who was standing over his son, and before he could speak, she punched him in the face.

Blood gushed from his nose, and he attempted to retaliate by grabbing her. Jake let out a keen as he tried to hold onto her wrist, most likely to hurt her as well, but Rosa Diaz had never been defeated in a fight where the fire of adrenaline was consuming her, and she wasn’t about to let this be the first loss. She twisted her hand, enabling her to grab his wrist, and with all of her strength, she slammed him into a wall. He fell to the ground, disorientated, giving her the chance to pull her gun out on him.

“On your knees and put your hands where I can see them, you motherfucker,” she spat. He complied, shooting her a pleading glance which she totally ignored as she handcuffed him.

“Jake. Help me. Please, you know I didn’t mean it--" he began.

“One more word. I dare you. One more fucking word,” she hissed, shoving him out. “Come on, or I’ll make you.”

Rosa didn’t feel anything as she dragged him down the hall into the bullpen. There were a few officers milling around, giving her a wide berth as she threw Roger Peralta into the holding cell.

“You,” she said, picking out a random officer. He stood to attention, not daring to say anything. “Jake Peralta’s in the interrogation room. Pick someone to go and get him. Bring him to the break room. _Be gentle_.”

He nodded and grabbed the arm of his friend. Rosa watched the two meander down the hall. Rosa turned back to Roger. “If you so much as _look_ at Jake the wrong way,” she began, huffing out a short laugh, “I won’t kill you. But I wouldn’t wanna cross an angry Amy Santiago. Don’t do anything that’d make you more dead than you already are.”

Jake was carried in by the two officers, and Rosa lead them into the break room, helping set him down on the sofa. To her relief, Roger didn’t try anything else.

“Jake. Can you hear me?”

Jake looked like a mess. Purple and blue bruises covered his skin. Small cuts had been opened on his arms and cheek, most likely because of Roger’s wedding ring. The bastard had the nerve to keep it on. If Rosa had to wager, she would say he had at least one broken rib from the way he was standing just then, and maybe a broken finger. One of his eyes was literally swollen shut, and he peered blearily at her through the other. Rosa could see dark circles under the undamaged eye, and she wondered if he’d slept at all.

“Mhm. Rosa.” He tried to shift, but all he accomplished was groaning quietly in pain. She faintly registered how unfocused his eyes were. _What the hell had Roger done to him?_

Taking deep breaths, Rosa tried to analyse the situation with a clear mind. “I’m gonna have to call someone. You’ll also need to go to hospital.”

“Not…Ames.”

Rosa huffed. “Why’s that?”

Jake’s face scrunched up as much as it could. “She didn’t…sleep.”

She threw her hands up. “Fine. But I’m calling Holt now. And Amy when we get you actual care.”

All Jake could do was nod slowly.

Twenty minutes later, Holt arrived, frowning worriedly at Jake’s condition. “May I ask what happened here?” he inquired.

“Came in half an hour ago, found his dad beating the shit out of him in the interrogation room. His dad’s in the holding cell and Peralta needs to go to the ER.”

Holt closed his eyes for a moment before opening them. “Have you contacted the neares--"

“They’re on their way.” Rosa sat down on the floor next to Jake. “You’ll be fine.”

Jake wheezed out a quiet “okay” as his eyes fluttered open and shut. He was obviously fighting to stay awake and alert, but failing miserably. In a moment she would later come to deny, she stroked his hair off his forehead silently. No words were needed.

An hour later, Rosa and Holt found themselves sitting outside of Jake’s hospital room. Neither of them had contacted Amy yet. Neither of them really wanted to, preferring to sit in comfortable silence. Until the doctor came in and smiled at the two of them.

“Jacob Peralta’s relatives?” she asked. Before Holt could deny, Rosa nodded. “He’s stable but very injured.” Rosa felt bile rise up to her throat as the doctor listed off his injuries. A broken rib and three cracked ones, internal bleeding and bruising, two broken fingers, a concussion and severe bruising everywhere.

“Thank you doctor. Will we be able to see him?” Holt asked gently. He placed a reassuring hand on Rosa’s shoulder, making her snap out of the daze she had temporarily fallen into. Jake’s been through worse. He’ll be fine.

“Not yet, I’m afraid.” And with that, she left them in the corridor.

“I will call Santiago.” Rosa nodded, taking out her phone.

“I’ll tell the others.”

Not trusting her voice to remain still, she texted the situation to the squad group-chat, listening faintly as Holt explained Jake’s condition to Amy. Sympathetic messages as well as death threats aimed at Roger (from Gina mostly), rushed in. Several squad members promised to visit later on.

“Amy will be here soon. She sounded distressed on the phone,” Holt informed her, sitting back down. Rosa grunted affirmative, bone tired despite it being only ten in the morning.

She couldn’t understand why this whole thing was affecting her so much. She’d seen Jake injured plenty before, and she never did trust Roger Peralta in the first place. So why the hell was this bothering her to this degree?

_Because Rosa Diaz, for all of her toughness, couldn’t imagine a world where her parents hit her. Rosa Diaz couldn’t imagine her parents, for all of their flaws and inconsistencies, not loving her. Rosa Diaz cherished her loved ones, protected them fiercely. Rosa Diaz couldn’t imagine a time where her parents wouldn’t be a loved one, a world where she flinched away from their touch instead of leaning in to it. Rosa Diaz couldn’t imagine life without her parents’ support._

Amy arrived soon after, a whirlwind of fresh coffee and anger and intense love. Rosa watched Amy yelling at the doctor to let her see Jake while sipping on her coffee. Vaguely, she was reminded of the term ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’.

The doctor broke after two minutes of ‘talking’ to Amy and allowed her in with a heavy sigh. He looked slightly afraid.

Amy marched up to her and grabbed Rosa’s hand. “Let’s go,” she muttered, dragging her into Jake’s room.

Their footsteps echoed through the room, making Jake, who was lying so very still on the white hospital bed, stir. Amy rushed over immediately, grabbing his hand and gently stroking his cheek. “Hey babe. How are you feeling?”

Rosa took a seat next to Amy, watching the whole interaction.

Something like a strange gurgle came from Jake’s throat. It sounded vaguely like “dad”. Rosa watched, brows furrowing as his chest began to rise and fall faster and faster.

“Hey, no, shh. It’s okay. You’re okay.” Amy cooed at Jake in the gentlest voice she could, smiling though Rosa could see the look in her eyes. A look that came before murder.

Jake’s breathing evened out and he stared up at the two of them emptily. Amy continued murmuring things too low for Rosa to hear, but she caught flashes of conversation and gave Jake an almost-smile.

The ringing of Amy’s phone startled all of them. Amy frowned, looking at the caller ID. “Babe, I gotta take this. It’s urgent. I’ll be right back, okay?”

“It’s okay Amy. I’ll keep an eye on him.”

Amy nodded gratefully, rushing out of the room and closing the door behind her.

Rosa and Jake sat in silence for a little bit, completely unlike any silence she’d experienced. This one was weighed down by grief and rage.

“Rose.” It showed how vulnerable Jake was feeling to use that nickname. Not that she didn’t mind it this one time. “Why does he hate me?”

Now this was something Rosa wasn’t prepared for. She had almost been wished for anger on his part, or maybe even crying. But she hadn’t wanted to answer difficult questions.

Rosa wanted to bolt, wanted to run over Roger Peralta a few times with her motorcycle, wanted to make sure that he never saw his son again. It was pure force of will that kept her in that chair.

“Peralta. Look at me.” Jake obliged, his eyes filled with tears. “Your dad is a sack of shit. It doesn’t matter what you do, he’ll never like you. He doesn’t hate you because he doesn’t know you well enough to hate you. He’s just a motherfucker who has an inferiority complex and takes it all out on his son.”

At some point during her speech, Jake had begun to quietly cry. “But he--"

“Jacob. You can’t let the bastard get to you. It doesn’t matter if he won’t be your dad. Because we’re,” and here Rosa got choked up slightly, “we’re your family. And if he comes back, all of us will fucking destroy him.”

Rosa wrapped her fingers around Jake’s, in tenderness she would deny for the rest of her days, but she didn’t care at that moment.

“Love you Rose.”

Rosa Diaz smiled down at him. Goddamn, he had no business being that sweet.

“I love you too, Jake.”

He smiled as he drifted off to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed. Feel free to leave a comment or kudos.


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